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Indian Company Shows Off Sub-$200 Laptop

Posted by timothy on from the progress-toward-the-negroponte-device dept.

geo_2677 writes "The Indian company which came out with the Simputer has now come with a PC which cost roughly INR 10,000; that's just about US $200. The project was backed by the Indian government R&D department Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)." Geo2677 points out an article on the low-cost computer at hinduonline.net and another at the Times of India, and writes "The new PC is Linux-based and has office applications, a browser and audio/video capabilities. With a keyboard that can be rolled up, it looks pretty sleek. A U.S. company is already using it in pilot projects, and many more have shown interest. The Indian government hopes that this will push the PC revolution to the masses. It aimed for home users and small businesses/shops. The PC penetration in India is very low, at a measly 13 million, due to the high costs involved."

12 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. The PC penetration in India is very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The PC penetration in India is very low

    That's because it hurts a lot.

    1. Re:The PC penetration in India is very low by WickedClean · · Score: 2, Funny

      Probably because it isn't covered in the Kama Sutra.

      --
      ...All I can say is that my life is pretty strange...
  2. Obligatory Outsourcing Joke by lake2112 · · Score: 3, Funny

    But how will they be able to take my job if these computers have no processing power?

  3. yea but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    it may be cheap, but they'll have to outsource tech support to North America and that's gonna cost ya...

  4. "built-in memory" - wow! by hey · · Score: 3, Funny

    One article says it has "built-in memory".
    Now that's something! What's next? Computer
    with CPUs and keyboards!

  5. Showing off by tds67 · · Score: 1, Funny
    Indian Company Shows Off Sub-$200 Laptop

    Curious. I read about the $200 laptop, but the article didn't mention the submarine...

  6. Theres Something Wrong When... by HaydnH · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know there's something wrong when you see a homeless guy in India pull out a mobile better than yours and say in a perfect british accent "Hello, BT help desk"!

    --
    Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
    1. Re:Theres Something Wrong When... by Slashcrap · · Score: 2, Funny

      You know there's something wrong when you see a homeless guy in India pull out a mobile better than yours and say in a perfect british accent "Hello, BT help desk"!

      I am appalled by this statement. It is absurd and racist.

      Absurd because in reality nobody ever answers phone calls to the BT Help Desk. And racist because you are implying that a homeless Indian guy would debase himself far enough to work for BT.

      You should hang your head in shame.

  7. can you imagine... by unk1911 · · Score: 2, Funny

    if everyone in india got one. This company would make $200 billion dollars...

    --
    http://unk1911.blogspot.com/

  8. This is great and all... by b166er_zeroone · · Score: 2, Funny

    but does it run Windows?

  9. Re:Interesting.. by ajnsue · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah - well back in my day we didn't have your fancy monitors. We just had raw leads sticking out of the back of the computer - we would stick'em on our tongues and have to interpret the output bit by bit. Sure it it hurt sometimes - sweating in pain, working a slide rule to figure out the trickier images. But thats the way real men did it. Zero's and Ones my boy - Zeros and ones

  10. Re:Free, for only $24.95 month by GIL_Dude · · Score: 4, Funny

    They won't eat my lunch; it is a McDonald's hamburger...